The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Spartans complete perfect season
Dartmouth crowns third straight unbeaten season with title win over Citadel
Simply perfect.
The Dartmouth Spartans capped off another undefeated season with another Capital Region girls' basketball banner after beating the Citadel Phoenix 71-51 in the metro championship game Tuesday evening in Dartmouth.
Over the three seasons Marika Williams has been the Spartans' head coach, Dartmouth has not lost a game and has posted 74 consecutive wins.
Four of the five Spartans seniors — Sami Russell, Denezz Beals, Paris Melanson and Keanna Davies — have been with Williams over that span and will graduate having never lost a game in high school. (The other senior — Jana Peachy — transferred to Dartmouth from Millwood after Grade 10.)
“This feels unreal,” said Russell, who finished with a game-high 19 points. “Me and Marika only dreamed of this. We never thought this would become a reality. And now that it's here, I probably won't even realize until a few days from now that it even happened.”
Beals had 18 points, including a dozen in the first half, and Melanson added 15 for the No. 1-ranked Spartans, who captured their third straight metro title to go with the two provincial banners won in 2019 and ‘20. The
Nova Scotia School Athletic Federation cancelled this winter season's championships, including basketball.
Mercy Olugu paced Citadel with 11 points.
The Phoenix, seeded third for the playoffs, stymied the Spartans with their pressure defence and forced Dartmouth into uncharacteristic turnovers early into the game.
The Spartans missed their first 11 shots, including two free throws, and didn't score their first basket until six minutes into the first quarter when Beals drained a threepointer with 3:56 remaining.
A quick steal and another Dartmouth trey from Russell, who was fouled on the play and sunk the subsequent free throw, and the Spartans went from zero on the scoreboard to a 7-5 lead within 12 seconds.
“Our heads were down,
mine was down for sure, early in the game,” Beals said. “I wasn't hitting any of my shots. We expected it from them. They did play a good game.
“But after that we picked it up and we got going. I said, ‘I got to do this for my teammates, I got to do this for Sami, Peachy, Keanna and Paris. I got to do this for us.' We had been in this together for the whole time.”
“None of our shots were falling,” Russell added. “Creds to Citadel, they came out, we didn't. It took us awhile and we just said, ‘Let's forget about the first bit.' Once we shifted our energy and refocused, we went from there and it worked out for us.”
The Spartans led 34-22 at the half but the margin was cut to three (41-38) late in the third as the Phoenix went on a 16-7 run in the quarter.
But that would be as close as Citadel would get.
Dartmouth found another gear in the fourth, boosted by a 21-4 spurt, and outscored Citadel 25-11 in the final frame.
“In the fourth quarter, we realized, especially us seniors, that this is our last time on this court, last time playing with these teammates, last time being coached by this coach,” said Russell, who had 10 points in the fourth.
“I went into the quarter thinking things weren't necessarily falling for me earlier on in the game. It was time to move on and make the best of it in the fourth quarter.”
The Spartans boys' team, many of whom watched the girls' final through windows from outside the gym, hosted Halifax Grammar in the Capital Region championship on Wednesday night.